The Marathon Years

Between 1996 and 2006, Chas and Brooks ran four marathons together:

• NYC 1996
• Boston 1998
• Cape Cod 2002
• Maine (Portland) 2006

Chas also ran the Paris Marathon in April 2010 and Brooks did Marine Corps (DC) 2000 and Hartford 2004.  Here is a brief overview of the joint experiences coupled with an update from Chas.  Brooks' comments are in italics.

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your concern.  I'm doing fine.  I'm running and biking.  I won't be doing the iron tri and am rather disappointed about that, but I will tri and I will be there by Brooks' side when he swims and bikes and runs his way from Bock's lake to Chapin steps.

Two things have been motivators for me as I try my best to stay healthy and fit.  One is a daily record of the workouts I do and the other is an event on the calendar.  I started keeping track of my workouts as a New Year's resolution in 1995 and the first event I put on my calendar was the LL Bean 10K on July 4th of that year.  Since then, Brooks has often been the person that puts things on my calendar.  And he did just that during the winter of 1996 when he called to tell me that he wanted to run the New York City Marathon.

Brooks, Chas and Scott Smith after 1996 NYC Marathon

The initial thought when training for our first marathon was that this would be a one time deal.  Who needs to do this more than once, right?  As I tried to fall asleep the night before the race, I remember thinking "if I survive this, I could see trying to do it again."  There was this question of what happens to your body once you go past 20 miles (the longest training distance we had done)?  The answer is nothing particularly fun, but that which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

We both survived just fine and finished in 4:18 along with Scotty Smith.  It should be noted that Tim and Karen Bock both ran that year and were wonderful hosts in NYC that memorable weekend.

Two years later we were running the Boston Marathon.  Brooks is wearing the same shirt .  I think we should make a poly version of the shirt for him to wear on tri day. (I don't think I moved away from cotton until the early 2000s- shirt was made as a fundraiser for Williams Women's Crew, I believe).  The tall guy in the middle is my brother Pete. Brooks will have to help us out with the one guy in the picture who looks like a runner (Kevin Moon, a George School colleague, who trained with me and ran as a bandit that day- will do write up on Kevin when we chronicle runnin buddies).  Who is that adorable little boy hugging his papa?  (Taylor Foehl, age 5!)

Taylor, Brooks, Kevin Moon, Pete and Chas Foehl

 Chas is too modest to point out that he ran a marathon PR in Boston.  He had a serious training partner who pushed him hard culminating in a 3:25 finish.  My goal was to break 4 hours and finished in 3:59:57.  Looked at my watch at mile 25 and realized I needed to run a 7:15 last mile to break four hours and just made it.


Chas and Pete in Wellesley- halfway home!

It wasn't until 2002 that we got together for another marathon.  This time in Falmouth, MA in the Cape Cod Marathon.  My youngest brother Dave joined in the fun.

Brooks, Dave (Chas' brother) and Chas

Cape Cod was the most enjoyable of the "small" marathons I ran.  Loved every aspect of it- probably because we had lots of family and friends surrounding us.  Dave Paulsen was with the three of us all the way and was a great Williamstown training partner that round along with Tom Kaegi who ran about 20 minutes faster than our 3:55 that day.

Brooks and Chas Mile 25 of Maine Marathon, Portland, ME October 2006

It was time for us to hit the road together again and doing it in Chas' hometown of Portland, ME seemed the right way to go.  Starting line was less than a mile from Chas and Sara's house and they were wonderful hosts all weekend.  Chas and I finished in 3:53- my sixth marathon, his fourth. 

I was feeling like it was time for the next challenge and it was a discussion for Chas and I to have together.  The answer: triathlons.  We could have started with sprints, or maybe Olympic distance, but we decided to go with the half-iron.  We'll chronicle the (on-going) triathlon years soon.

Wilco and Friends

It's not everyday that your favorite band plays a couple miles from your house.  But we got not just one, but two shows from Wilco, who curated their second Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA this past weekend.

Taylor and Jake hanging with Wilco

It was a weekend to test the limits on all fronts- two late nights coupled with two morning workouts.  Friday night was marked by cool and wet conditions, although spirits were not dampened.  Setlist featured new material and Wilco staples; there were only two repeats (new songs) over the two nights. 

Saturday morning went for a great ride with Greg Avis, Williams '80 (avid Wilco fan and cyclist) and Chris Gootkind, Williams '81.  Did the first 45 with Greg and Chris and pressed on for another 25 for a 70 mile total over 4.5 hours (my wife's response "that's all you did?"- she was expecting I could do at least 90 miles in that time........)

Greg and Chris

Heavy rain in the early evening on Saturday cleared out in time for the second Wilco show.  Taylor, Jake and I ventured to the front rows to get a close up view of another tremendous setlist.

Sunday morning, I headed out for a 15 mile run with Christie Abel.  The run was perfect and only the last two miles felt like work.  All in all, a tiring but highly rewarding weekend with great music and friends.

Mooseman Triathlon Festival

Tim Bock and I traveled to Newfound Lake in NH to take part in an International distance event (.92 swim/27 bike/6.2 run) on June 4.  Chas was in our thoughts as we enjoyed a tremendous 24 hours at Mooseman.  Will share more about our history at Mooseman; it was my fourth visit and a memorable event for me and Chas as it was our first triathlon- a half-Iron in 2007.

Previous visits saw us camping out at a local summer camp but we went with the upgrade this year and rented a little cottage about 1.5 miles form the event.

36 Belmore Court

We arrived late afternoon on Friday and checked in at the event.  It was beautiful, but cool and windy with decent chop on Newfound Lake and we hoped for calm morning conditions.

Beautiful but windy on Newfound Lake

After carbo-loading on pasta  and a couple of Long Trails we watched the Sox and hit the hay.

We were up at 5am on Saturday.  The thermometer read 39 degrees.  On June 4.  Not overly concerned as the forecast predicted sunny skies and a high of 70, we still had to deal with the cool am temps.  The wind had subsided and it was a glorious morning on Newfound Lake.

Newfound Lake on Saturday am

We biked the short distance to the race and were on site at 6:30 (for a 7:30 start) and got situated.  Water temp for the swim was 61, but it wouldn't be too bad in the comfort(?) of our wet suits. 

Tim in transition area

Haven't told you much about Tim Bock but he's a tremendous athlete and it showed in his first triathlon- follow along below and you'll see why:

114 M45-49 224 Tim Bock Scarsdal NY 35:55 2:24 308 4:33 1:24:32 19.3 103 1:57 45:04 7:17 65 16/42 2:51:59

He came in 114th out of 436 entrants.  Although his swim may be considered his weak link, it's actually his greatest accomplishment.  Tim fought through every pool session to put himself in a position to get through the swim and he did just that.  It may have been the 308th swim time of the 436, but that makes his finish all the more amazing.  After exiting the water, he proceeded to have the 103rd fastest bike time and the 65th fastest run, averaging 7:17 miles.  About 2 miles into the run, I got  a big slap on the back from Tim as he said "howya doing, buddy!" and continued cruising past me.  I finished a couple minutes behind Tim, in 128th overall with the 101st swim, 152nd bike and 120th run.

Tim and Brooks at the finish

A great day at Mooseman

Chas

Over the past six weeks, Chas has been struggling physically.  It's not clear why, but his doctors are exploring all possibilities with positive results to date.  He seems to have turned a corner but it's been an extremely frustrating stretch as his body struggled to allow even light volume of exercise.  He couldn't take part in Mooseman a week ago and an Iron is out of the question.  It's wait and see if he can attempt the Pan-Mass in early August.  One thing we do know is that he will be there at my side for Iron Day with a new goal of completing a half iron.

When Chas and I embarked on this path, I suggested we document the journey via a blog.  At its core, it would be our opportunity to document our training, interactions with others and most importantly, our friendship.  Chas' voice will be heard here when he's able; until then send good thoughts his way.

Memorial Day Weekend

The holiday weekend brought good times with family and friends along with three rides, two open water swims and a run.  Here's how it went:

Friday, May 27- Visit with Tim Bock at his family house on Lake Buel, New Marlborough, MA.

As you know from a previous post, Tim Bock is doing his first triathlon on June 4 at Mooseman.  Being an inexperienced swimmer and having never done an open water swim, Tim rightly suggested a test run on Lake Buel.  The Bock family house on Lake Buel, and the great times had there by our circle of friends, deserves a full post at another time.  For now, it felt good to be back there once again.

We got to the house by 5:30pm and were on the road for a spectacular 32 mile ride in South Berkshire County by 6pm.  Had never been on the flat farmland that we experienced along the Mass/CT border.  We were back in time to catch the last moments of daylight from the deck:

 

Sunset on Lake Buel with hoppy rewards

The beauty of the Lake Buel cottage is there's no tv, internet or cell coverage available.  Trips to Great Barrington brew pubs are necessary to view must see sporting events such as the Bruins making their first Stanley Cup final since my honeymoon in 1990.  No hockey available in Bermuda in those days, though! 

Saturday, May 28

We were up and on the lake by 6am getting ready for our open water swim- more than you may want to see here:

Given the cool and wet spring, the lake was surprisingly warm.  We spent about an hour in the water, swimming for more than a mile.  I was on the road by 8:15am toward eastern MA to catch Jake Foehl's U14 soccer team in action at 10am.   A quick shout out to Berkshire Ajax for a great effort at the Needham Soccer Tournament going 3-0 in pool play before bowing out in the semis.   Got in a five mile run late in the afternoon; the heat had yet to subside and felt sluggish throughout.

No longer having a base at the Foehl homestead at 33 High Rock Street in Needham, we rely on the hospitality of close friends Cary and Lew Collins who take care of us in Wellesley, MA.  Cary and Lew are big bikers with a great crew of fellow riders.  Lew mapped out a Century for the group to tackle on Sunday morning which conveniently dropped me in Lancaster, MA at mile 63 where Jake had a game at 10am.

Sunday, May 29

Up at 5:20am for a 6:00am departure.  The group was headed west to the the top of Mt. Wachusett and back to Wellesley.  Another spectacular morning spent on beautiful country roads- life doesn't get much better.  I peeled off and got to Jake's game on time after four hours of riding.

Sweet Lew Collins wondering why the hell I'm trying to take a picture while riding

Cary (far right), Lew (far left) and part of the Wellesley Crew- will give them their due (in a later post)

Monday, May 30

We were back in the water on Monday at Farm Pond in Dover, MA.  Cary needed to test drive a wetsuit and a lengthy open water swim in preparation for her distance triathlon debut.  Again, the water was warmer than expected and we spent about 30 minutes heading 500 yards off-shore and back.  Lew rode to Farm Pond and I hopped on my bike to do an easy 22 miles with him to end a memorable four day stretch.

Cary and Brooks baking in our wetsuits- outside temp was 85 degrees

Super Woman!